Integrating Sustainable Development in Stockholm

In 2015 the UN General Assembly adopted the sustainable development goals (SDGs) as part of a transformative universal framework for global development: the 2030 agenda. The SDGsoffer a new opportunity for collaboration between sectors, however, this interdependence is not reflected in the formulation of SDG targets.

The SDG Synergies approach is a practical way of understanding how SDG targets interact in a given context, provides a basis for priority-setting, cross-sectoral collaboration, and assessing alternative development pathways that can drive progress on the whole 2030 Agenda. The approach looks beyond simple targets–interactions to how interactions can ripple through the whole 2030 Agenda. The analysis has been limited to local city level (Stockholm) to illuminate possible synergies and tradeoffs necessary to know for cost-effective prioritization and policy implementation.

There were clear interactions between SDGs, and they were to a large extent positive. We found that SDG 16 is the most important for the agenda, both as a whole and especially for Stockholm. There were other important SDGs however, such as SDG 3, 11, 10, and 13. Some SDGs are more isolated than others (for example SDG 7 and 15) relating to energy and biosphere. The insights from conducting this pilot project will feed into the development of the methodology by SEI and in the longer term, this methodology will be refined and developed into a smart application that different stakeholders can use when planning for how to best achieve the SDGs.